National Crime Victims' Right Week 2010

4th Annual National Crime Victims' Walk


Where: Volunteer Landing Center Park
Date: April 18, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm


Please call 865-924-3480 for further information.

Sponsored by HOPE for Victims

For directions to Volunteer Landing please click link below

http://www.ci.knoxville.tn.us/parks/volunteer.asp

TAKE ACTION NOW ! CONTACT YOUR GEORGIA REPRESETATIVE TODAY

To contact your State Legislators, please use the following link

www.congress.org/congressorg/home

Simply enter your zip code in the box on the right of this page where it says “Find Your Officials”, to identify your State Legislators. Congress has already passed a federal law for arrestee testing, so communication with your federal representatives in congress is unnecessary. Please feel free to use the following text, with or without your own revisions, when communicating with your State Legislators:

PASS "Johnia Berry Act "

GA House Bill 1033

GEORGIA NEEDS THE DNA ARRESTEE LEGISLATION

Please do not wait another year to pass a law to require DNA to be taken at the same time as fingerprints for felony arrests! People in police custody have no right to conceal their identity, and we have every right to know if they have been involved in other crimes.

We have a right to be safe on our own streets. Every year we wait to pass this law, we expose everyone in our communities to the possibility that a serial criminal will be unwittingly released by police and allowed to commit more crimes.

We cannot blame law enforcement if their hands are tied by laws that do more to protect criminals, than they do to protect the rest of the public. Please do not let another person be needlessly victimized by our failure to treat DNA like a fingerprint.

Federal laws already require that states must provide a manner of expunge for a person who is arrested but not convicted of a crime.

This is a fair balance that protects both the public and the rights of the accused. Please pass DNA Arrest laws now!

Sincerely,

Name

Johnia's Story

Johnia Berry's friends and family say she was a vibrant beauty, very ambitious, with an endless supply of kindness and generosity.

It all started during the early morning hours of December 6, 2004 around 4am, when someone entered Johnia’s Brandon Park Apartment looking to steal car keys. When the thief did not find what he was looking for in the living room, he went into Johnia's bedroom and brutally stabbed her.

Johnia was able to make it out of the apartment and stumbled down two flights of stairs, knocking on neighbors' doors seeking help. No one responded and she collapsed and died a short time later.

We were glad to find out that there was DNA left at the scene of the crime, but had no idea that the National Data Base lacked critical information to help solve crimes.That’s when we began working to make a change in the laws in Tennessee.

On May 9, 2007 “The Johnia Berry Act 2007" was passed. The new law states that
when a person is arrested for a violent felony, such person shall have a biological specimen for the purpose of DNA analysis taken.

After waiting three long years a DNA match lead to the arrest of Taylor Lee Olson on September 24, 2007, for the murder of Johnia Berry.

It is my hope that sharing the story of Johnia's murder will bring awareness to the fact that DNA arrestee laws should be passed in all states. And my prayer is that another family will not have to endure the pain of losing a loved one.

Please help make your state a safer place for you and your family!

DNA on Felony Arrest

All 50 states and the federal government currently have passed legislation to collect DNA on felony conviction. That is not enough! It is critically important that DNA be collected on arrest.

We all need to work hard to ensure that all 50 states enact legislation to mandate collection of DNA on arrest. Currently, 21 states (See chart below) have passed some form of DNA on felony arrest legislation.

Is this Constitutional?

The DNA profile in CODIS, the forensic DNA database absolutely DOES NOT have any information on the individuals’ medical or psychological history. It does not reveal the race. There is no private health information. It is only a unique identification tool for law enforcement; much more exact than fingerprints or mug shots. Federal courts have determined DNA collected by law enforcement is only for identification and citizens are required to identify themselves to law enforcement officers. It is not a violation of a person's right to privacy. Collection of DNA by swabbing the inside of a person's cheek is less invasive and inconvenient than taking finger and palm prints. On a felony arrest, the officer has already established "probable cause." It is not "an unreasonable search and seizure" and should not require a search warrant from a judge. It is the modern day fingerprint.

The US District Court in California on May 27th, 2009 upheld the constitutionality of expanding the collection of DNA to those who have been arrested. This will be very encouraging to those states where there were concerns of constitutionality.

Why collect DNA on ALL felony arrests?

Collecting DNA on felony arrests allows law enforcement to gain information on the possibility of the suspect being involved in other crimes. If a suspect is arrested for a rape, it would be incredibly inefficient to wait until that person is convicted for the rape before collecting and processing the DNA only to find out that their DNA matches the DNA evidence from multiple rape victims. Currently, many of our court systems are so backed up that the conviction could take years. A victim deserves to get answers as soon as possible. Delays in prosecution and investigation of other crimes the person may have been involved in will cost money, time and pain. It could result in mistrials, cases being dropped, loss of witnesses, loss of evidence, and in some cases, statute of limitations expiring. No plea bargains should be struck until the DNA has been input into CODIS. Timing is critical. It can also exonerate the innocent.

Studies show there is a 40% chance that burglaries and other non-violent crimes are being committed by someone who has already committed violent crimes, perhaps even murder. If they haven't, there is an 80% chance that they eventually will commit a violent crime. That means 40% of these non-violent crime scenes could have evidence that would lead us to a match with evidence from a serious assault, rape or murder. It is important that our laws allow us to collect DNA from ALL FELONY arrests. We need to use this to our advantage and start balancing the scales of justice.

Can States afford to expand DNA testing now?

States can't afford not to collect DNA on Felony Arrest! It is shortsighted to not recognize how much money will be saved. Some states, to help with costs, have added fees to parking tickets and to criminal fines in order to create long term funding sources. Federal funding is available to assist states and to help increase the size of DNA laboratories. Funding is also available to help with backlogs. Keep in mind, although initially many more DNA samples will be collected, most of the suspects arrested are repeat offenders. So the increase will be temporary and then decline, as will the number of crimes being committed. Again, investigation times, prosecution time and court time will be reduced. It will result in an incredible savings.

21 States Have Passed The Law

Yellow recognizing states with DNA laws.

Alabama Florida Alaska Kansas Arizona Louisiana Arkansas Maryland California Michigan Colorado Minnesota
Missouri Texas New Mexico Vermont North Dakota Virginia South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee